3 Review(s)

Ten leading Scottish commentators and thinkers set out their views on the economic and political future for Scotland in the years ahead. The result will enrage and delight people in equal measure. Scotland has fallen into a deep post-devolution trough. Six years on, and despite sharply increased public expenditure, there is a groundswell of popular public resentment against the new political class. Questioning over whether the huge subvention of UK taxpayers to Scotland is by no means confined to English voters. Anger rages over the apparent featherbedding of MSPs to the scandal of the u431 million new parliament building. Scotland's economy continues to under perform that of the UK while the Labour/Lib Dem coalition struggles to find new policies that will reverse population decline and re-engage voters. Scotland is now in the grip of a political cabal so weighed down by its sprawling civil service and bureaucratic tangle that it labours like a chimera. All this is epitomised by the new parliament building in Edinburgh, which was so grossly over budget that it became the national scandal of the decade. There are ten chapters in his book, each written by a different author.The themes draw on different facets of Scottish life. Each chapter offers a different perspective on how Scotland can progress from here. So this is a book of many angles: politics, the arts, economics, social policy, planning, rural affairs and of course, a view from Westminster. Together, they offer a range of views as to what has "gone wrong" with devolution and, as important, what new policies are needed. This ensures the book is forward looking and positive in its setting out of alternative futures for Scotland.